Marjorie Perrin
ARTIST INTERVIEW:
“As a child I was always drawn to color and first thought I wanted to be a writer. Eventually, I realized I could communicate better through painting.”
Now an experienced and prolific artist, Marjorie Perrin draws inspiration from her natural surroundings to produce peaceful, yet powerful artworks filled with expressive brushwork. When starting a new painting, she will study her subject repeatedly and often create several preliminary sketches to arrive at the most effective composition. “For me, composition is like poetry. I like to experiment with arrangements and rhythms that evoke a mood and capture a moment.” Marjorie’s creative practice follows the seasons, as she prefers to paint en plein air in warm weather and retreats to her studio during the winter months. Regardless of where she is, she says “I am always looking for compositions.”
Not afraid to branch out, Marjorie also created and illustrated a children’s book, My Most Marvelous Zoo. “It was a fun challenge because the artwork is simplified with flat shapes, bright colors and line.”
A true visual artist, Marjorie does not believe in lofty artist statements or odes to painting. Rather, she believes that shapes, lines and brushstrokes evoke feelings to which words cannot compare. She believes, “the whole point of being a visual artist is creating a feeling with visual elements rather than words.” A feeling which resonates from all of Marjorie’s artistic work.
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ARTIST BIO:
Marjorie Perrin paints the world around her using the richness of oil paint to convey mood and sense of place. Her style is influenced by Impressionism and Classical Realism. She taught Studio Art for 30 years at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School and continues to teach art workshops for the VMFA Statewide Program.
Marjorie graduated with honors from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; she also studied at Art Students League of New York and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has received several awards, most recent are Second Place Artists’ Choice Award for Tidelands Plein Air event in Tappahannock, Virginia in 2024, First Place at Gloucester Arts Festival Community Artist Plein Air Competition in 2019 and an Honorable Mention in the same event in 2024 in Gloucester, VA and Third Place in Plein Air Westhampton 2019 in Richmond, VA. She has also received two fellowships to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
Her work is included in numerous private and corporate collections in Richmond, Virginia, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, E.R. Carpenter Corp., Medical College of Virginia, Henrico Doctor’s Hospital, and Mutual Assurance.
She is an active member in the Portrait Society of America, Oil Painters of America, the Virginia Plein Air Painters Association, the Maryland Society of Portrait Painters, and the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association.
